Vacation-Home Buyers at Dominican Resort Await Rescue Investor

Hope is not lost for buyers of vacation homes at the Westin Roco Ki resort on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. Some buyers there are holding out for a new investor to purchase and complete the project, which languishes three-quarters built.

The 1,600-acre Roco Ki project was among seven detailed in a Wall Street Journal article this week that remain stymied due to lack of financing. Buyers of vacation homes at those resorts paid a cumulative $300 million in deposits, and most have yet to receive their homes or a refund. At the Roco Ki project, vacation-home buyers paid roughly $54 million in deposits for condos, villas and beachfront homes that still languish as incomplete structures.

The project’s developer, American investor Sterling K. Crum’s GeoStar Inc., is negotiating with potential investors willing to take over the project and finish it. The deposits can’t be refunded because they were spent on the resort’s construction. Roco Ki’s vacation-home buyers say they have heard of several investment groups kicking the tires at the resort in recent months.